Lost Art Press

Customers, Circa 1765

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It is better said that the general design of the piece to be covered with mosaic or marquetry, and the expense which one wishes to make is in fact considerably more expensive than simpler furniture described earlier. Because of this substantial increase in cost there is no allowance for any type of mediocrity in its execution, which makes it very pricey when being very well made.*

* Nothing is so common as to see veneered pieces of cabinetry of all types, but nothing is more rare as to find them perfectly made. This is due less to the fault of the workers than that of the collectors, who for the most part are without taste and without knowledge, and even worse, unable to pay for good work and who take indiscriminately that which is presented to them, providing only that it costs very little. From this comes the greatest quantity and the worst quality of marquetry and cabinet work, where, even without speaking of scrimping on materials, the style is absolutely the worst in relation to the theory and practice of the art. The former is totally unheeded for both the sections of marquetry and the ornamentation with mosaics. For the most part these are badly designed and without taste, and rarely designed and made for the space that it occupies. [Often these sections of marquetry were purchased “off the shelf” from catalogs or brokers in marquetry appliqués. If the fit was not perfect, lower-class furniture makers, or more appropriately furniture makers with lower-class patrons, cut and fit these compositions to fit the space on a cabinet whether or not it was aesthetically appropriate. – DCW]  I do not pretend to say here that you cannot find pieces of cabinetry and marquetry very well made. I am very far from thinking that. On the contrary, I know that there are excellent artists in this line of business, to which I give all the fairness possible, but sadly that number is not many, and it cannot be otherwise for the reasons that I give above in this footnote.

— A.J. Roubo, “L’Art du Menuisier,” Part III Section III Chapter XII, pp. 866-7

13 thoughts on “Customers, Circa 1765”

  1. Amen. I suppose that most of the furniture examples from earlier time periods remain because they were of the higher quality variety and of “good taste”. We should strive to make our work some of the examples that remain 250 years from now.

      1. Seems to me that Roubo is saying that in his day cost cutting was rampant and high quality and good workmanship were hard to find. I think that’s the bottom line: works of high quality and good workmanship are expensive so they will *always* make up a tiny little drop in a sea of el cheapo “it must do for now, gotta eat too you know” produced stuff.

        The only way out of the high cost is to make things yourself. But then you run into limitations of available time and of achievable skill sets. I mean you can’t be a master furniture maker in your spare time and a master painter and a master mason and a master leather worker and a master smith. So you’ll have to buy some stuff and if your immediately available funds are limited then that stuff won’t be of high quality and good workmanship.

  3. And here we thought the degradation of the craft through public pressure to churn out cheap, flimsy consumer goods was a 20th century invention…

  5. That’s the reason I don’t have any hand made furniture, except my own

  6. What is the object above the person in the picture? It is oval, has a white rectangle within it and appears to have a cylinder above it and an arm (I can’t see if it attaches to the post infront of the worker). The bench and vise are interesting as well. Are these explained with the upcoming book or are we supposed to know what they are?

      1. Thanks for the links. I suppose that object could be a mirror used to reflect light on the work much like a head mirror used by otolaryngologists to view the pharynx and vocal cords.

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